((finally another chapter! haha. some reviews would be loved, actually, so i know i'm not writing to no one, lmao. but even if you don't, please enjoy! i own...a bit of this, actually, but not it all.))
Two long, stinky days passed. Olive and Liam sat in the living room while Paulie munched on some fried chicken. "You know, my Shadow is going to start wearing off any moment now," he said, looking over to their two worried faces. "Not t'put more stress on yall or anything, just…saying, really…" he looked back down as they both glared at him.
"Maybe we should visit Hook," Liam said. "We have no other ideas. We have nowhere else to go. He'll make sure we're alright, for a little while."
"I don't wanna drag Division into his life anymore. I mean, you know what happened with his wife…" Olive mumbled, and she looked down, sad about the story. She pushed back some of her hair, which was surprisingly not as greasy as she would have expected, living in this apartment with Paulie. He made her want to finally invest in a workout machine.
For the past two days they stayed up way too late and got up way too early to think about what they would do next. They played with the idea of one of them getting locked into Division to find out anything they use for blackmail. They came to the conclusion that they neither wanted to go in, nor did they want the other to go in. There was no real way out, unless you had the pieces set up like Olive's mother.
Both Liam and Olive, however moral they were, played more with the idea of blackmail. After all, it'd worked once before…why not try it again? They had no suitcase, however, and absolutely no knowledge. It'd become public that Division was now keeping more tabs on the psychics, and thanks to the general public's distrust of people like them, this was received with a smile.
"I know you don't wanna, but…I doubt Hook would want us in this predicament without us helping, anyway," Liam said, but it was half-heartedly. He didn't want to drag this man in their situation either, because he of all people did not deserve it. Still, he was all they had.
Olive finally gave in to the idea, and before she knew it, she was counting the money out to Paulie. "I really do wish yall luck in your endeavor to fend off Division," he said, his eyes greedy as she placed twenty after twenty in his hand. Of course, about half of this was Liam's doing. He didn't relish tricking an old friend, but they had no time to collect actual money.
"Be careful, now," he said, and he bid them goodbye with a small smile and a wink of his eye.
----
The bus to Trenton, New Jersey was a long and dull one. "I have never traveled so much so quickly," Olive said with a grin, sitting in the Greyhound bus and looking over to Liam. She was looking more and more stressed in her face, and he could tell. Her eyes were looking a little less…bright. He was sure his own face was looking the same way. He looked down at her in return, and grinned a tired sort of grin.
"Neither have I. I don't really travel too much, aside from coming to America in the first place," he said, and opened a magazine. A hair magazine. "Hook will be happy to see us, I'm sure. I mean, he won't be too happy once we tell him why we're coming, of course, but…" he sighed gently to himself, ruffling his hair. He was due for a haircut, for sure. "Do you think he'll know anything?"
"I doubt it. He hasn't been with Division in years…too many things have changed since then. But he might know other people who've come out, who might know something. Not that they'd be willing to or anything like that. What's it to them?" she asked, and she looked over his shoulder at the magazine.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll find a disgruntled one," Liam said, and he smirked, looking down over to her. "I mean, the chances of that must be good. I'd be pretty disgruntled if I worked for Division."
"I would, too," Olive mumbled, and she shook her head. "But would I be willing to divulge a secret that would help someone like us?"
"Like I said…we may get lucky."
----
Olive knocked impatiently on Hook's door, and the two of them waited. After a moment the door opened and he smiled down at the two of them. "Ahhh…hello," he said, and he looked back to his apartment. "Give me one second, yes?" he asked, and he smiled down at them before closing the door.
Liam and Olive exchanged looks of curiosity. About three minutes later a slinky young woman walked out of his apartment, looking a bit cross about being told to leave so quickly. Hook came back and opened the door another minute later, smirking and nodded. "Nice to see you two again. Sorry about that, just…yeah. Come on in," he said, and opened the door all the way.
They entered, and immediately plopped down, not needing an invitation. His apartment looked every bit as bachelor as they'd expected, and didn't mind one bit. "So. To what do I owe this…surprise visit?"
"I am sorry about that, mate, you must understand that we came here strictly as an emergency. We've got Division on our tail, now, ever since they tried to gather our identities," Liam said, sadly.
"Ooh…you experienced that, did you?"
"We did," Olive said with a small sigh. She picked at her nails while her hands sat in her lap. "And we don't wanna stay long, because we don't want Sniffs coming around, but we were wondering if you couldn't offer us some help." She continued to pick anxiously, not wanting to be here at all.
Hook frowned. "What sort of help?" he asked, carefully, and he poured himself a glass of vitamin water.
"Nothing too much. Just…I mean, do you have any sort of…information?" she asked, and he blinked. "Incriminating information. Stuff the media would actually not treat like a good thing." Olive smiled gently up at him. "I mean, you know how much people love us…"
"I do," Hook said sarcastically, and he leaned back, crossing his legs. "Everything I know has already been leaked by Division themselves, but in a positive way," he said, and dropped some coffee in front of them. "You know how they manipulate facts. I'm sure there's something useful out there, just nothing I know," he mumbled, smiling over to them.
Liam nodded. "Understandable. Do you happen to know of anyone who might know something? Any recent lay-offs from Division?" he asked, and watched as Olive rose, excusing herself to use the restroom.
"I…well. I do know one fellow," he said, and he frowned a little bit. "I have his number around somewhere. He worked with Division until very recently…he was let go, after years of showing up and breaking down people's doors for their life," Hook said. He didn't bother to hide his bitterness…Division had ruined his life, his parents-in-law's life…and for what? Some training with a handgun? He wrinkled his nose as he sipped his water and continued to look for the number.
As he wrote it down, Liam looking on somberly, Olive rushed in. "I think I just saw Division coming into the building," she said shakily. "I looked out the window, and saw like four guys with gloves on their hands," she said, looking over to Hook immediately for an answer. Liam did exactly the same thing.
He wrote down the number, his hands shaking. "You two take the stairs down. They always take the elevators, if there is one…they're lazy like that," he said, always cool in the face of danger. He gave the number to Liam. "Olive. Did you drink your coffee? I know you did, Liam."
"No."
"Good. You two take this coffee cup with you, and try not to touch anything else. Use this newspaper to open the door. Hurry, and good luck," he said, ushering them out with his calm voice.
Liam snatched the cup and walked out, running down the hallway with Olive behind him, stuffing the newspaper in her pocket. She Moved the doors open with a wave of her hand and the two ran down the stairs as fast as their feet would allow them, until they heard a similar commotion coming up the stairs.
Olive grabbed Liam and pulled him against the stairwell wall. She waited there until the Division agents rounded the corner. Like lightning she raised her hand, and a good few of them flew into the wall. Those that didn't fly were knocked into those who did, and before she knew it, they jumped over them and ran down the stairs.
Once outside, they ran to a city park that was nearby. Once more Olive felt the uncomfortable burn from her chest all the way into her throat, and she collapsed onto the ground. A few hundred feet away, children played on a playground, and she and Liam both knew this would be a safe place to stay for now.
Hurriedly, Olive dug into her bag and found an old inhaler. She puffed and inhaled, leaning back against a tree and staring up at the leaves that gave her the best shade. She exhaled about ten seconds later, seeing stars. "You're right. I need to go home and get a treadmill." She smiled up at Liam, who was now plopping down next to her.
"Will you be okay?" he asked, skeptically.
"Yeah, I'll be fine…"
"Good. We have to find a payphone immediately. They know where we are. We need to give this guy…Mitch Alexander…a call. Come on, up we go," he said, and he tugged her up to her feet, her thighs burning as weight was put on them.
They wandered around, asking different people for some change for the payphone, until they finally had enough to allow them only two calls. Olive leaned against the telephone as Liam dialed quickly, looking down and speaking quietly.
"Hello?" the phone said.
"Yes, this is a Mitch Alexander?"
"Not if you're selling something."
"Ooh, no, sir, I'm not selling a thing. Hook Waters gave us your number. We need your help. Will you meet us at…" Liam looked around, and saw Olive point at a little diner. "The Gunga Diner. A nice public place where Division scum won't be able to get us. We just want to talk, for now," he said, quickly. "Tonight, at eight. Please."
There was a frustrated sigh from the other line. "Yeah. Sure. How will I know who you are?"
"One of us will be wearing a red flower in her hair. Thank you, Mr. Alexander. Goodbye." Liam hung up and rolled his eyes. "I'm shocked…"
"I guess we should go look for a red flower," Olive said with a tiny smile.